Grain-handling means



E. C. STARNES AND E. C. WILLIS.

GRAIN HANDLING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1920.

Patented Feb.7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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GRAIN HANDLING MEANS.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3, 1920.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVEJVTORS:

BY HE/R ATTORNEX UNITED STATES.

. mane. s'rmns AND nwannc. wms, orange, finminsom. I

- emu-Hamming Mums.

Toall whom-itmay ooncra' Be it known'that we,- EARL C. sT-ARNES andEDWARD C. Winnie, citizens of, the

a a Sp fi a i n! Patented Feb. 7, 1922. ip 'ia aonned m s, 1920. semi in375,875. I

distributing spout 28 connected by a swivel joint 29, soit maybe swungin a horizontal plane with its outlet end 30 over either one U d t r gat p in of the" tubes 31, 32, 33, of the bins or over county of Jacksonand State of Minnesota,

have invented a new and useful Grain-Fmdling Means, of which thefollowi'n is a specification.

Our inventionrelates to new methods and.

means for handling grain, and the main objectis to reduce the cost ofhandling and treating the grain, by consolidating several actions,operations and movement'srequired for hoisting, scalping, conditioningand delivering the grain either into grain cars for shipping or intobins from which cars may afterwards be loaded. Another object 1s toimprove some of the operating means n volved. y

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a grain elevator building equipped withand embodying our invention, and a grain car alongside the building.Fig. 2 is an enlarged side view of the main fan casing, showing meansfor admitting air thereto and for regulating vacuum in the adjacentparts. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-3 in Fig. 1. Fig. 4is a partly sectional side elevation of the receiving head of theelevator and its adjacent fans. Fig. 5 is Fig. 4 seen from the oppositeside and showing also the pulleys,

shed represents one of several sheds into which teams or cars may haulgrain and dump it through spouts like '13 into a-ypit ditioningapparatus having in its .bottom a the long tube 34, which is arrangedfor loading grain cars 35 placed near the building. The spout 28 isrotated by a shaft 36, which near. the working floor 21 is provided witha hand. wheel 37 and a polnter 38. Said pointer is arranged to point, todifferent numbers upon a dial 39 and thereby indicate the position ofthe spout 28.. The dial is arranged upon or may constitute a table intowhich the bottom end of the shaft 36 may be journaled. I In Fig.3 isshown that the hand wheel 37 may have a notch 40 for each number 1 to 8,on the dial, and near the wheelis pivoted at 41 a dog 42 adapted to bedropped into either of the notches 40 so as to prevent accidentalrotation of the wheel.

Turning now. to a further description of the dumping pocket 27 and itsadjacent mechanism, the bottom of the pocket is an inclined guiding andspreading board 43 having across its lower end a recess form.- ing twobaffle-plates 44, 45, each of which is provided with a series of fingers46 or 47; and above said bafile plates the pocket itself is formed witha bafile plate 48.

Disposed close below the board 43 is a blower fan 49 having its shaft 50provided with a pulley 51, driven by a cross belt'52 from a pulley 53fixed on the shaft 54 of the elevator.

The fan 49 receives its air through an aperture 55, (see Fig. 2) thesize of which is regulated by a vertically slidable closure 56 havingone or more springs 57 tending to close it, and a cable 58 for openingit. Said cable is guided over pulleys 59 and has its operated endextended to the working floor, where it is connected to a lever 60,

.which is pivoted at 61 and arranged to engage in notches of a sector 62fixed on one of the elevator legs or any other stationary object. f

The air blown from fan 49 passes through a flue 63 having a sideaperture 64 closed by a lid 65, which is hinged at 66 and nor-. mallyheld closed by a spring 67 and may be more or less opened by a chain orcord 68 connecting it with the closure 56 or the cable 58 above theclosure;

The up er end of the flue is curved downward y and provided with a fancasing 69 having a partition 7 0 dividing it into two chambers for twofan wheels 71, 72, both of which are fixed on the sameshaft 73, whichhas a pulley 74, driven by a belt 75 (see Fig. 5) from a pulley 76 fixedon the shaft 50 of the lower fan. The fan 71 sucks air from the flue 63and delivers it and all chatl and dust it contains through a tube 77into the dust house 11. The other fan, 7 2, draws its air through a tube78 from an aperture 79 in the dumping pocket or elevator head andexhausts by way of a tube 80 to the outside of the building.

In the operation of the apparatus as a whole the grain is elevated anddumped from the elevator cups in distinct lots from each cup upon theplate 43 down which it slides by gravity and mixes one lot with anotherand is partly spread by the plate 43, but as the stream of grain moveson quite fast it does not get fully spread by the plate only and as itwould be poor operation to allow it to pass into the flue 63 in lumps,the stream is retarded and spread by the baffle plates 48, 44 and 45 andby the fingers 46, 47, projecting in alternate position from the bafileplates. After being thus fully spread the stream of grain enters theflue 63, in which the blast fronnthe fan 49 passes through it, allowingthe clean grain to pass downward into the distributing spout 28 whilethe chafls, dust and other light stuffs are blown so far up the flue 63that the suction of the fan 71 gets hold of them and they are deliveredby the latter fan into the dust house through the tube 77. This part ofthe operation is modified and regulated according to the condition ofthe grain by more or less opening or closing of the closure 56 of theair intake 55, and the lid 65 by which vacuum in the flue 63 isregulated.

Meanwhile the fan 7 2 is removing from the elevator head 26 and pocket27 such dust and light stuff as will usually fill the air therein and bedrawn downward by the elevator cups into thepit and mix with the graintherein unless removed by said fan and the tubes 78 and 80 of same. Ifcars are available the grain is loaded into them through the tube 34,thus cleaning or scalping and conditioning and loading the grain in asingle one operation. Or if cars are not always available or ready to beloaded, the

grain may be directed into some of the bins, and afterward simply loadedtherefrom .into the cars.

It will be understood that as the grain passes from the plate 43 intothe chute an upper sheet-like stream of it is divided by chance to blowaway all light and foreign matter from the downward passin g grain.

Having thus described our invention and its operation, what we claim is:

1. In a grain cleaning apparatus a dumping pocket having an inclinedbottom, a vertically disposed baffle plate (48) for rebounding andspreading the grain, near above the lower end of the inclined bottom,and a grain outlet adjacent the lower end of the bottom, and means forblowing a current of air upwardly past the opening for cleaning thegrain dropping therefrom, said bottom having its lower end offsetdownwardly to form a shoulder, a series of fingers projecting from theshoulder and another series of fingers projecting from the downwardlyoffset end of the bottom, said fingers of one series being arranged inline with the spaces vbetween the fingers in the other series, so as toef fectively spread into the air current the grain to be cleaned.

2. In an apparatus of the kind described, an elevator head having adumping pocket, an air flue receiving the grain from the dumping pocket,a fan blowing air upwardly through the flue, a suction fan aiding theblown air current in its movement, a driven shaft fixed in the head ofthe suction fan, a second suction fan of smaller capacity and having itshead fixed on the same shaft as the first mentioned suction fan, and itscasing operatively connected with the inclosure of the elevator head atthe point where the grain is thrown from the elevator into the dumpingpocket.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures.

EARL C. STARNES. EDWARD C. WILLIS.

